New compact SUV from Premier Auto. EDIT: Rio quick testdrive on page 10

[Neur0t0xin]

Originally Posted by GTO

And now : All of this at 5.25 lakhs ex-showroom Pune (base version) and 5.95 lakhs ex-showroom for the top end. Translated = 7 lakhs OTR Mumbai
For 7 lakhs, I can buy a Grande Punto, i20, Swift, Ritz and even the Manza! Tell me ONE good reason for anyone to buy this piece of crap?

I cannot agree more.
Why would anyone want to pay 6 to 6.5 lakhs for this ??SUV??

[scooby05]

Originally Posted by GTO

And now : All of this at 5.25 lakhs ex-showroom Pune (base version) and 5.95 lakhs ex-showroom for the top end. Translated = 7 lakhs OTR Mumbai

I am simply shocked at the absolute lack of business acumen. Hey, final year BMS students could have executed a better business plan! For 7 lakhs, I can buy a Grande Punto, i20, Swift, Ritz and even the Manza! Tell me ONE good reason for anyone to buy this piece of crap?

I Totally agree with you GTO!! Someone should buy a Ritz Diesel, Raise her Suspension set up by 2", Mount the spare at the rear on a Pivot frame bolted to the body frame or on the rear door with higher capacity hydraulic cylinders to take the rear door up with the extra 20 kgs, put in AT tires. And we have a Fantastic Dependable Small SUV. With Service in remotest areas upto 12000 altitude!!

[shatrughna]

Originally Posted by scooby05

I Totally agree with you GTO!! Someone should buy a Ritz Diesel, Raise her Suspension set up by 2", Mount the spare at the rear on a Pivot frame bolted to the body frame or on the rear door with higher capacity hydraulic cylinders to take the rear door up with the extra 20 kgs, put in AT tires. And we have a Fantastic Dependable Small SUV. With Service in remotest areas upto 12000 altitude!!

Hi , I would love to know the price of such modified Ritz SUV. I dont think it will be too less compared to the Rio but Ritz would definitely be worth its price.

If they use the same Peugeot engine, at least FE will be excellent. 63 Bhp may not be too less but yes it will be disgusting seating in it and waiting for it to pick up pace after each time one has to be apply brakes - specially at the traffic signals. Still would like to go and have a look at this "Na- No" SUV attempt.

[shankar.balan]

why not see the vehicle 'in the flesh' so to speak and then form an opinion?

going by the various comments on making the Ritz an SUV, then consider that the WagonR already exists and could be positioned as a small SUV with a few changes!! Anyway the Ritz has very little storage/ luggage space in it - possibly made more so by the slightly pushed-in rear hatch design!

this way, if Ford were to resurrect the Fusion by raising it a bit more, up sizing the wheel-rims and tyres, plugging in a 4WD system etc, then that would be a very good mini SUV - or as earlier mentioned if Fiat were to introduce the Sedici or Maruti their SX4 Hatch 4WD, it would be excellent.

Point is, they (Premier Auto) have launched this vehicle - if some of us dont really like it, thats fine. But lets see it first, maybe test drive it and then condemn or praise it as per its merits/ weaknesses.

Any ideas where this could be available down south - especially Bangalore? Would love to see it at first hand and cadge a test drive from the dealer if possible.

All said and done, I believe this will at least set other manufacturers thinking along these lines and this way, may open up a whole new "nascent" market segment - which will certainly be a good thing for the consumer at large.

[sidindica]

I love it, I will buy it.

[Dippy]

Just back from the launch of Premier Ltd.'s new compact SUV the Rio. Premier Auto disappeared from the Indian Auto scene after they ceased production of the Padmini. In the late 2000s they came back as a producer of small diesel vans and LCvs. With the Rio they are looking to get back into passenger car production once again. So what is this Rio all about? Here is my take on the car.





The Rio is basically a small Chinese SUV which is sold in their domestic market by the Zotye Group. Premier has basically aquired rights to produce the car in India. The car will be made in Premier's Pune plant and will be sold through dealers across India Premier says that initial local content will be around 20 to 25%. The rest of the components will be Chinese. Premier will be making 500 units till March 2010. The Rio will come in three variants EX,DX and LX. The top end gets alloys and ABS. However even the top end LX gets just front power windows something which I feel should not be omitted in a 6 lakh rupee car. The top two variants come with a CD player as standard. No audio on the base model. They also have a non AC version. Regarding the equipment levels, some said that I could not ask for more in a car at this price but honeslty I have seen better. More details on the features and fit an finish in the pictures below.


I had the chance to take a short drive of the Rio. It is powered by the TUD5 diesel engine which earlier did duty in the now defunct Peugeot 309 GLD. The engine gives 65 bhp @4000rpm while max torque stands at 152Nm @3000rpm. The engine really feels underpowered and that is surprising considering the small size of the car. The Rio is not wide either and I would not rule out toppling at high speeds. The driving position is not great with the steering touching the legs of even a short driver like me. This gets quite irritating. The power steering is quite light though and driving it through traffic should not be a problem. Coming to the rear, the Rio is strictly a 4 seater as opposed to the company's 5 seating capacity. The rear seat has no thigh support and even I had to sit with my legs folded upwards. The rear seats are split and can be flipped forward to accomodate more luggage. I cannot comment on the ABS or brakes since I did not do any high speed runs. The Rio runs on 205/70 R15 tyres on 15 inchers. The tyres I saw on the car were some Chinese brand but on questioning the Premier official told me that they were offering Bridgestones as an option as well.

The Rio is the only vehicle of its kind in the market today. Its a different segment altogether. Premier hasnt really had a great success record when it comes to joint ventures. The Peugeot JV bombed big time and the Fiat one wasnt that great either. However I feel that the Rio could have some takers in the rural market where the base model could get some takers. The taxi market could have been a potential target too but I have my doubts on how a four seater will go down with the tourist guys. How Premier aims to make a success of the Rio remains to be seen. Prices for the Rio variants are as follows:

EX - 5.25 lakhs
DX - 5.50 lakhs
LX - 5.95 lakhs

(All prices Ex Showroom Pune)

And now for the pictures


Poor legroom for the rear passengers



15 inch alloy wheels on Chinese "Kenda" branded tubeless radials



The bonnet opening lever. Even the illustration is upside down



Poor fit and finish on the ashtray. Half broken on a brand new car



The heater for the diesel engine. Straight from the Premier 137D days



The centre console. Note the Premier branded CD Player



Cheap fuel lid opener



The dash and three spoke steering. Tachometer standard across all three variants



The glovebox felt as if it would fall into my hands



The boot





Chrome door handles. Quality not there though



The rear seats



Front power window switches. Positioning quite wierd



Front door pockets. Even a newspaper would go in with difficulty

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by sidindica

I love it, I will buy it.

and then will use it, and do this.

Jeremy Clarkson Destroys Lada - Video

[shankar.balan]

Thanks v much Dippy for sharing this feedback. Do let us know how it compares in terms of overall size/ stance/ proportions to say a Wagon R and say a Gypsy. And is there a 4WD version at all? or even planned?

Yes - with the comments you have made after the launch/ test drive, I can readily appreciate that there may not be many takers.

at 7 lacs - people may prefer to go for a good solid used vehicle rather than a brand new Rio! At best this might sell in the rural/ semi rural areas where high GC is important - but cannot take that for granted on account of being a 4 seater and small luggage space. Poor fit and finish in a Rs 6-7 lac car is not acceptable.

plus from what you say, the legroom is probably designed for the smaller built chinese rather than an average / tall Indian.

probably the only good thing about this is the alloys and the 205 size tyres!

Looks dangerous for Premier if this is all that they can offer despite all the noise made!

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by GTO

And now : All of this at 5.25 lakhs ex-showroom Pune (base version) and 5.95 lakhs ex-showroom for the top end. Translated = 7 lakhs OTR Mumbai

I am simply shocked at the absolute lack of business acumen. Hey, final year BMS students could have executed a better business plan! For 7 lakhs, I can buy a Grande Punto, i20, Swift, Ritz and even the Manza! Tell me ONE good reason for anyone to buy this piece of crap?

GTO, we need a full road test from you, I know I am asking too much, but need your complete review for it. I hope you will not say "no."

[advaitlele]

If I can remember it right, it sells in quite good numbers in Malaysia as Perodua Kembara (1998 to 2008) which is now a bit facelifted and renamed as Nautica. Perodua is the 2nd largest manufacturer in Malaysia after Proton and specialise in small cars based on Daihatsu platform (If I am not mistaken they are a JV with Malaysia government and Daihatsu). They same models as Daihatsu / Suzuki as Kenari - WagonR and Kancil - M800. I have driven another of their car Myvi - its quite good looking car extremely good in performance also.

Same model as Kembara / Nautica / Premier Rio is (or was) also available as Daihatsu Terios. Same specs but a few localised (or Chinese made) parts by Premier it seems.

I have driven Kembara in Malaysia for some time and the Malaysia version with Daihatsu engine was quite nice for 4 people and small luggage for a weekend outing. But as observed by Dippy it seems not same fit and finish and engine as Daihatsu made; so nothing worth cheering for. All the best Premier and I will party for you if you manage to cross 4 digit sales.

[jigbarai]

The first pic looked quite okay. A smaller version of the Safari (2 row) comes to mind.

It went downhill from there on (for rest of the pics).

[akshaymahajan]

i dont get it.
why would any company make a comeback with such a vehicle???
its so disproportionate, so ugly and lets not get started on the quality..
which segment is the company actually targeting??

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by sidindica

GTO, we need a full road test from you, I know I am asking too much....

Sid, you are asking our beloved GTO to risk his life!

@GTO, you want a SINGLE reason to buy this "car"?
- TUD5 engine: gem of an engine launched in EU at a time when our country was under emergency?
- Kenda tyres: Kenda USA site says they are " a leading bicycle and roofing material manufacturer"
- Premier-branded audio:

On a serious note I doubt the very name RiO itself is a typo for RiP.

Originally Posted by advaitlele

If I can remember it right, it sells in quite good numbers in Malaysia as Perodua Kembara..

Fantastic. What an ideal name...

Ooops, thanks Dippy for the quick update...

[amtak]

If people can buy a Dabewali Jeep then why not this? I think there would be a few takers for this even in a city like Mumbai. I don't think they would have a huge target per month but may be 100 or so.

In my area they have a dealer who sells a few Pick up's for this company.

[maxbhp]

This is ridiculous pricing by premier. Had they done a simple market analysis they could have found out that the set price was too high. The brand value of either partners aren't strong.

One a chinese player which has very little respect and the other a yesteryear player who finally lost the plot to the major players. I donnow how they are going to work things out.

Its going to loose worse than Renault Logan though Logan had an advantage that both the parent brands are quite renowned brands.

The only thing in favour of this one is Rhino , but is that successful in the market ? Any one got figures of Rhino sales ?